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Australia's Heartfelt Response To Hostage Situation

I’ll Ride With You

As you’re probably already aware, there is a current hostage
situation in Australia where a gunman is holding hostages within a Lindt coffee
shop.

dailymail.co.uk

During the siege, a black Islamic flag was stuck to the
window. The flag is one often associated with terror groups and ISIS, though it
is not the flag that ISIS currently uses.

During times where we face issues such as these, some people
will unfortunately blindly blame entire races and religions for the misdeeds of
a few.

Fearing this backlash however, Australians have banded
together to keep their community safe with the I’ll Ride With You hashtag.

With the hashtag, people are calling out to Muslims and all
those who would fear for their safety when they travel following on from this
hostage situation. This is due to certain people feeling it necessary to attack
anyone with any racial or religious relation to the gunman in a revenge act.
Not the smartest move, no. But I don’t think people who feel that this is an
answer really have a shred of wide thinking.

This is the right responses when faced with these issues. It’s
very important to remember that extremists only ever speak for themselves in
the most violent and selfish ways. No one should ever be held accountable for
what these people claim to represent.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said it was ‘profoundly shocking
that people were being held hostage by an armed person claiming political
motivation.’

He went on to say that: ‘Australia is a peaceful, open and
generous society - nothing should ever change that and that's why I would urge
all Australians today to go about their business as usual.’

At the time of writing this article, some hostages have
escaped but many are still being held.

Police negotiators say that they have made contact with the
gunman but no news has come concerning his agenda.

The Australian Muslim community released a statement condemning the gunman.'His eminence the Grand Mufti, the Australian National Imams Council and the Muslim community express their full support and solidarity with the victims and their families and aspire to a peaceful resolve to this calamity.' The statement went on to say that: 'The Arabic inscription on the black flag is not representative of a political statement, but reaffirms a testimony of faith that has been misappropriated by misguide individuals that represent no one but themselves.'Australia stands united. Just as any nation should in the face of such adversities. Their statements of peace should be followed by all.

Tom has just graduated from University of East London in Creative and Professional Writing. He loves writing and is currently interning as a content writer hoping to go further. His other loves include Arnold Schwarzenegger films and his dog. Follow him @TomAtSMF

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